| In the early days of my freelance travel writing career I realized how difficult it was to earn enough money to travel to all the places I wanted to visit. Magazine pay rates vary tremendously from as little as 10c/word to $1/word. Thus, travel perks became important to defray my travel costs. Travel writing perks are complimentary press trips, accommodations, transport, meals, tours, cruises, and entry to tourist attractions. Guides are often provided too. How do you land these “comps?” Think of assignments as your currency for getting the comps. When seeking comped travel, you need to produce an assignment or two up front before you approach the tourist agency PR/media rep at your destination. The important thing is to have assignments in hand—and the more assignments, the better. Media reps translate your assignments into advertising dollars. They look at your assignments and the publications and give a value to each publication since not all assignments (or publications) are created equal. Prestigious glossy travel magazines carry more weight than a small local newspaper, and print publications tend to carry more weight than online websites and blogs. The media reps will want to know these magazines and websites, often asking for contact details of the editors to confirm your assignments and to establish the subscriber base of the magazine.
The assignments in hand rule also applies to when you directly approach hotels, resorts, spas, restaurants, tourist attractions, or any other travel-related businesses you’ll be writing about.
Producing assignments in advance means you pre-sell some stories before you visit your destination. (See this FFW article.) Once you’ve rounded up a few stories, the standard procedure to request travel assistance is . . .
1. Contact the tourist agency at your destination, introduce yourself, and describe your assignments. 2. Politely request assistance with accommodations, meals, and entry to the attractions you’ll be writing about.
Most tourist agencies will be happy to help. After all, their job is to work with the media. But keep in mind they have a budget budget, so your assignments will be evaluated before approved.
If they are not able to help you, then your back-up plan is to contact the media/PR persons at the attractions directly and tell them you have an assignment that involves them. Then, politely request comp entry to the attractions or tours or cruises. Using this system, I’ve done two month-long trips to one dozen high-end luxury resorts and villas in Bali. Even novice travel writers have great success with this approach, as my coaching clients have proven over and over again. One newbie couple scored an exceptional perk—a three-day luxury rail trip across Australia.
Another beginner writer received entry to tourist attractions, restaurants, and boat cruises in the Grand Cayman Islands. Another of my travel writers secured a world-class press trip across the mountains of Central Greece in a 4 x 4 vehicle, with guides, drivers, accommodations, and all meals covered. Plus, he earned $1500 for his two print articles about the trip! How do you approach CVBs and PR/media reps to request travel assistance?
Once you have an assignment or two confirmed, call. You make a phone call for two reasons: to make initial ‘personal contact’ and to confirm whom you will be working with. Then follow up your phone call with an email request to your contact person. In your email request, flesh out your request thoroughly with details of your assignments. Include the following: • Introduce yourself
If you can provide details of the magazine’s paid subscriptions, newsstand sales, and total distribution, the media rep will appreciate you even more. Always be polite. Just because you have assignments doesn’t entitle you to everything under the sun. It’s a process. Make requests, not demands.
This process of requesting travel writers’ perks is straightforward, but don’t offend media reps by acting as if they owe you. They have a number of journalists asking for assistance. They do a lot of juggling to put together itineraries and get your stay hosted. A healthy dose of civility, patience, and compromise goes a long way.
Once you’re on the trip, remember that you’re working. It’s not a vacation. Show up for all your appointments on time, be prepared with questions, show enthusiasm, and always let the media reps know that you appreciate their efforts.
After your trip, make sure to send a thank you email to everyone who supplied travel writers perks while you were there.
And don’t forget to send a copy of the magazine or a PDF of your article to your media contact when it gets published. This way, you’ll continue getting those perks in the future. BIO – Freelance travel writer Roy Stevenson has had more than 1,000 articles published in 200+ regional, national, and international magazines, newspapers, trade journals, custom publications, specialty magazines, in-flights, on-boards, and online travel magazines. He’s considered one of the most prolific travel writers in the U.S.A. You can read Roy’s bio and see some samples of his work at his writer’s website, www.Roy-Stevenson.com He produces a free weekly newsletter for aspiring travel writers. It’s considered one of the most informative e-zines in the travel writing business. |
Leave a Reply